The Upper Valley Haven
Be Kind. Be Thoughtful. Be Helpful.
Suggested Reading List
Below is a list of books and publications to help you learn more about the issues of homelessness and poverty.
“Without a Net:
Middle Class and Homeless (with Kids) in America”
by Michelle Kennedy
Michelle Kennedy grew up in a typical middle-class family. She left her Vermont home to begin college at American University in Washington, D.C., and interned as a U.S. Senate page. She had a boyfriend, Tom, whom she adored and soon married; they moved into a starter apartment in the burbs and everything seemed to be falling into place. But the life Michelle was building suddenly unraveled, and by age twenty-four, she found herself single, homeless, and living out of a car with her three small children. Kennedy currently lives in Chelsea, Vermont. Find the book on Amazon…
“Welfare Brat”
by Mary Childers
With this lyrical and often humorous examination of her early years, Mary Childers addresses the issues of welfare dependence, childhood resilience, the American work ethic, and a popular culture that values sexuality more than self-esteem. Unique and disarmingly honest, Welfare Brat is a vital contribution to the library of American memoir. Childers lives in Hanover, New Hampshire. Find the book on Amazon…
“Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America”
by Barbara Ehrenreich
Nickel and Dimed reveals low-wage America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity—a land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand desperate stratagems for survival. Read it for the smoldering clarity of Enrenreich’s perspective and for a rare view of how “prosperity” looks from the bottom. You will never see anything—from a motel bathroom to a restaurant meal—quite the same again. Find the book on Amazon…
"The glass castle: a memoir"
by Jeannette Walls
In The Glass Castle, Walls chronicles her upbringing at the hands of eccentric, nomadic parents--Rose Mary, her frustrated-artist mother, and Rex, her brilliant, alcoholic father. As Rose Mary and Rex, motivated by whims and paranoia, uprooted their kids time and again, the youngsters (Walls, her brother and two sisters) were left largely to their own devices. Though Walls has well earned the right to complain, at no point does she play the victim. But on the contrary, Walls respects her parents' knack for making hardships feel like adventures, and her love for them--despite their overwhelming self-absorption--resonates from cover to cover. . Find the book on Amazon…
“The Other Side of the Valley”
by Jim Kenyon
In 2001, Jim Kenyon, a columnist for the Valley News, wrote a powerful 8-part series of articles on the struggles of four families living in the Upper Valley. Read the Valley News article…
“A Framework for Understanding Poverty”
by Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D
With a million copies sold since 1996, “A Framework for Understanding Poverty” has guided hundreds of thousands of educators and other professionals through the pitfalls and barriers faced by all classes, especially the poor. Carefully researched and packed with charts, tables, and questionnaires, Framework not only documents the facts of poverty, it provides practical yet compassionate strategies for addressing its impact on people’s lives. Find the book at aha! Process, Inc.…
“Between a Rock and a Hard Place”
published by the Vermont Housing Council and the Vermont Housing Awareness Campaign
Now in its sixth edition, this publication has become an authoritative tome chronicling the effect Vermont's housing shortage has on home prices, and generating interest in and understanding of Vermont's housing crisis among members of the media and the public. Find the report at the Vermont Housing Finance Agency…
“The time spent here was a learning experience. Without even knowing, you have taught me so much about myself and my children. Most importantly, you have taught me to help myself.”
—An excerpt from a letter by a recent shelter guest